Africa-Press – Mozambique. Unidentified assailants on Saturday kidnapped a businessman of Asian origin in central Maputo in broad daylight.
According to a report by the independent television station, STV, the kidnap victim, whose name was not given, owns the Micaune pharmacy on Joaquim Chissano Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in the city.
Approximate location of Pharmacy Micaune, on Maputo’s Joaquim Chisano Avenue, where the kidnapping took place, [Source; Google Maps]Before bundling the businessman into their getaway vehicle, the criminals fired shots into the air, apparently to discourage any rescue attempt.
This was successful – eye-witnesses says the shots caused panic among passers-by, who did not attempt to intervene. They said that four men in two cars carried out the abduction.
For more detail on this, watch TV Scuesso’s opening headline report, on Saturday [May 11] main newsprogramme [Jornal Principal]:
The police refused to answer any questions from STV. So far there has been no official police reaction. This is the fourth kidnapping registered in Mozambique so far this year.
The kidnapping happened less than a week after the general commander of the Mozambican police (PRM), Bernardino Rafael, admitted that the police is invested with criminals.
In an internal document leaked to the independent newssheet “Carta de Moçambique”, Rafael said “the General Command of the PRM has noted with the greatest concern the occurrence of crimes involving members of the PRM, practiced with the use of firearms, notably robberies and kidnappings”.
Rafael ordered all central and provincial branches of the police “to undertake a reflection on the reasons why members of the PRM are involved in criminal activities and to present recommendations for solving the problem”.
He gave them a deadline of 30 days to present these recommendations.
The involvement of police agents in kidnapping was made very clear on 6 May when the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) announced the arrest of two policemen stationed at Maputo’s 23rd precinct in connection with the attempted kidnapping of an eight year old child.
The kidnapping was foiled because when the policemen-turned-kidnappers demanded a ransom from the child’s mother, she went to the police, and Sernic was able to rescue the child.
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